Forest Vacation
by UnendingEmpire
Summary: Being locked away sucks, especially when the exile you live under is self-inflicted. That's why Mima has the sudden idea to go for a trip in the Forest of Magic, and being in Makai, it seemed only polite to ask if Shinki wanted to come along. Aside from their apprentice and daughter respectively, what else will they find?


**A long time ago, I was on Danbooru and found this awesome picture with Marisa, Mima, Alice, and Shinki all together, and they looked like they were going somewhere for something. I interpreted it as either a trip through the woods or the quartet going for a picnic. The former is what inspired this, as well as the sudden desire to have Mima star in a funny fanfic instead of the gloom-and-doom ones she's usually starring in when she stars.**

**Actually, she was pretty big in Ibuki Miko as well, but…not quite at the level of "star" in my opinion, and this was also a good chance to break out a Mima/Shinki pairing, which is my favorite pairing in all of Touhou, ever.**

* * *

Makai was a bad place to be stuck in…unless you happened to be a super-powerful ghostly witch who had such a powerful grip on magic that you could be called a god. Lucky for Mima, that description fit her perfectly. That was why she was here, on self-induced exile since her defeat at the hands of that irritating little Reimu, right when the Makai incident was just inches from being solved by the green-haired goddess! She'd decided to stay here until Reimu was due to die, but the Hakurei miko was still young, so once the thought came across Mima's mind, she'd realized that this was one of her more questionable moves. Maybe it wasn't the best idea…

Perhaps she should pay Gensokyo a little visit again, if only to see scenery other than the white and barren wastelands that were Makai. But it'd be best to not go alone, in case Reimu showed up looking for trouble. But none of these people in Makai were worthy of accompanying her during her big return to Gensokyo. Only one person in this world was deserving of that privilege. Mima would go see her, she'd decided.

* * *

**Pandaemonium, Makai; throne room of Shinki****…**

The exterior of Pandaemonium was beautiful, being created out of nothing but crystals, causing it to shimmer and sparkle beautifully in any light in a vast multitude of colors. The interior shared this design, and in the throne room that lied in its deepest depths, everything was made 100% from diamonds. It confused some people from time to time (including the very goddess who built the damn castle) but there was no denying its beauty. And of course, standing faithfully at Shinki's side was the wonderful maid of Pandaemonium, Yumeko.

"Lady Shinki, Your Omnipotence," the maid started. "You've lately seemed rather…how to put it? Down in the dumps."

"Have I?" The silver-haired goddess held out a hand in front of her, and created a little blonde-haired doll. Her daughter had dolls just like it, though even Shinki would admit that Alice's dolls were far better. "I can never really tell," she said, tossing the doll into the air and detonating its gunpowder guts. This was a new pastime of hers, much to Yumeko's dismay (she _was_ the maid, after all) but it kept Alice in her mind, so it was okay by her. And in Makai, Shinki's word was law.

_SLAM!_ The doors in this room always slammed open. The doors were very light to push, but in reality were extraordinarily heavy. The reason Shinki made them this way? So she could always tell when somebody entered. However, the magician standing before her was becoming an increasingly frequent face. "Hello there, Mima. What can I do for you today?"

"I was wondering if you'd like to go on a small nature trip," the magician honestly answered.

"Nature trip? But, I created this whole world, so wouldn't it just be seeing my own work in my case?"

"I meant a nature trip in Gensokyo."

"Gensokyo, hm?"

"…"

"Why should I?"

"Why not? It must get awfully boring, spending all your time in this world you created. You may find inspiration for something new there, not to mention it's good to see plant life every now and again."

"Yes, the flora in Gensokyo is quite a sight to see…"

"And your maid could easily fill in your duties while you're away."

"M-Me?" Yumeko asked in shock. "I can't fill in for Her Greatness! I'm merely a maid who can't even use the powers of our goddess Shinki! How could I possibly do that?"

"I know~" Shinki held out her hand, this time extending the arm in Yumeko's direction, and created in her hand what looked like a ball of condensed light. "Crush this in your hands, Yumeko. It will give you the powers of creation, until I come back to Makai." With a light push of her palm, the orb soared over to Shinki's red-clad maid. "Being the goddess of Makai is an easy job. All you need to do is keep track of all the affairs of this world that could cause changes in Makai, be they large or small, and if somebody comes to the throne room asking for something, you just need to grant their wish if it won't harm the greater good of Makai. That's not hard at all~"

"I'm sure she can do it," Mima agreed. "The great Shinki wouldn't create somebody incapable of taking care of her business for a brief time, after all. Though I suppose the people could be a little angry, seeing a maid in the throne of a goddess…" Pointing to the two royal guards at the doors, Mima said "You two. You're bearing witness to this, that Yumeko was tasked with filling in for Shinki's duties. Don't let any of us down, got it?"

"Yes, Countess Mima," the two guards said in unison.

"Shall we go, Shinki?"

"Actually, I'm having second thoughts…I mean, it sounds fun and all, but Yumeko's kind of right. Even if it's an easy task, you can't really trust a maid to do a god's work."

"Did I mention that Alice's house happens to be along the way?"

"Let's go," Shinki said without skipping a beat.

* * *

**Makai wastelands; en route to Gensokyo****…**

"So when did it become _Countess_ Mima," Shinki asked. "If you became part of the Makai nobility, I think I'd be aware of it."

"I became nobility through my own methods. Naturally, people wouldn't know unless properly informed. I made sure anybody who needed to know found out, though…well, anybody in Makai at least."

"…say, how long ago was this?"

"I'd put my money on about ten months ago." Mima could understand why she asked. At around the time Mima had become a countess there was a violent rebellion in one of Makai's larger territories. It was settled by the Makai royal army, but the territory that housed the rebels was pretty beaten up once things were over. Dead count, down-the-crapper economy, and a few hundred civilian casualties, not including the thousands of rebel soldiers. "Maybe nine."

"You didn't have anything to do with that rebellion, did you?"

"Me, rebel? In the past, have I ever taken such direct action? Of _course_ not. I merely watched from the sidelines, and when the count who preceded me got stricken down, I wasted no time in usurping his station and putting down whoever wanted to get in my way. Although, nobility isn't all it's cracked up to be."

"And how is that?"

"The people look up to you, admire you, and see you as their leader."

"…and?"

"It sucks, Shinki. They come to you with all their little complaints, and these annoying petitions to change this or implement that, and I was rather hoping that the other nobles in this world were a little more…well, barbaric. I wanted a war, but the whole lot of them are all too damn civilized for something like war."

"I could always arrange that war~"

"No thank you. I'll start one myself."

"…" That was asking for trouble. If Mima started a war, and things got too out of hand, Shinki would have to get involved, and that wouldn't end well for anybody involved, be they nobility, royalty, or otherwise. "So," she happily said, completely changing the topic. "How about this nature trip to Gensokyo? Think it'll be fun?"

"It will clear our heads up, at the least. That's what I'm really going for, not the sightseeing. We'll be going around in the Forest of Magic, and if we're lucky we'll see either Marisa or Alice." Mima knew that a big reason Shinki was coming along on this trip, if not the whole reason, was the chance of stumbling upon Alice. On the other hand, Mima was rather hoping to run into Marisa. She'd make certain to arrange that before the trip got too close to its end.

"I do hope my little Alice is doing okay. After that whole thing where you and Marisa and those other two came through, Alice became so distant from everybody, then she up and moved to Gensokyo. I sure hope my little princess is okay…"

"Perhaps that's what happens when you baby somebody for too long. That's why I left Marisa when her training was finished, so that I wouldn't make that mistake." Mima knew that if she'd stayed, she certainly would have made the mistake of babying Marisa for too long, and the black-white (or back in Mima's day, purple-red) witch wouldn't be what Mima had heard she'd become. The charming and charismatic witch who could steal people's material possessions and take their hearts with her in the process. It reminded Mima very much of herself. "Sometimes a girl just needs some rough love."

"_Rough_ love? What kind of training did that girl go through exactly?"

"I never said anything about rough love. I said _tough_ love."

"I heard rough."

"I _said_ tough."

"Maybe _you_ want some rough love~"

"How can a goddess's head be so filled with straight up air like yours?"

"Because she made the air, that's why~"

"…"

"Are you out of breath? Maybe that big noggin of yours needs more air inside it~"

* * *

**Passage from Makai to Gensokyo****…**

"…"

"Aw, you're still not speaking?" Shinki pried Mima's mouth open with her hands, and said "Your lips are open, so make some sound!"

"Get your fingers off my face!"

"Hee-hee, she spoke~"

"I'm beginning to regret asking you to come along…"

"You don't mean that, Mima. You're just a little grumpy because of the long ride here is all, and because we're still not quite there yet. Don't worry, we'll be there soon. Just a little further~"

"You said that almost an hour ago."

"Our stop is at the next cosmic crossing."

"You said _that _five crossings ago!"

"Mima's mad because she didn't expect the trip to be this long~"

"Please don't refer to me in the third person like I'm not even here."

"But she'll get over it if we have a nice drink once we get to Gensokyo, I'm sure. All she needs is some hot tea or some cold water."

"Or a cold beer."

"Beer, huh? I figured you would consider a drink like beer unrefined, and go for wine instead. But I guess there's lots of things about Mima the Makai Countess that I don't know about, isn't there? Yes, yes, I'm sure there is~" With every ounce of irritation that appeared on Mima's face as Shinki's sunny demeanor continued to annoy the magician, the smile on the goddess's face seemed to get that much bigger, like Mima's irritation amused her. However, Shinki was right (this time) about almost being at Gensokyo. It wouldn't be long before they reached their destination and started to take in the scenery of the land of illusions. "I prefer champagne myself, but I'll have wine if there's none around."

"Don't you need to get champagne imported from the human world?"  
"Uh-huh. But there's a slight time distortion when crossing the Hakurei Border, so the champagne ages real fast when it goes through. By the time it gets to Makai and reaches yours truly, it's at least a hundred years old!"

"A hundred, huh? And that's a _slight_ distortion?"

"Yep~"

"…" Maybe Shinki didn't get the same impression, but to Mima, this was going to be a long trip. Before today, she didn't spend much time at once with the bubbly goddess, so seeing how she was with people, it irritated Mima to no end. _Too damn sunny_, she told herself.

* * *

**Many ellipses at the ends of Shinki's sentences~**

**I noticed something funny regarding Mima/Shinki and Marisa/Alice pairings. In MariAri pairings, Alice is the tsundere and Marisa is real upfront and stuff. In Mima/Shinki pairings, Shinki's the upfront one while Mima is the more tsundere one. Which would make a Mima/Alice pairing hilarious because if somebody used a tsundere Mima and paired her with the already tsundere Alice, it'd be a pairing of two tsundere.**

**What could be funnier than that? Just imagine the bitch-fests those two would have!**


End file.
